During the Jin Dynasty to the Tang and Song Dynasties, due to war and famine, the Han people in the Central Plains of the Yellow River Basin were forced to move south, and after five major migrations, they were exiled to the south. Because the flat area has been inhabited, we have to move to mountainous areas or hilly areas, so there is a saying that "every mountain must have guests, and no guest can live in the mountain." When local officials registered their household registration for these immigrants, they established themselves as "Hakka" and called them "customers" and "Hakka", which is the origin of Hakka appellation. In order to prevent foreign enemies and wild animals from invading, most Hakkas live in groups, forming the Dragon House, Zouma Building, Wufeng Building, Shiwei Building, Sijiaolou, etc. Among them, the Dragon House is the most surviving and most famous, which is a concentrated expression of Hakka architectural culture.

The dragon house began in the Tang and Song Dynasties and prevailed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Hakkas adopted the most advanced combination of beam-lifting and bucket-piercing techniques in the architectural techniques of the Han nationality in the Central Plains, and chose hilly areas or sloping areas to build dragon enclosure houses. The main structure is "one entrance, three halls, two compartments and one enclosure". Most of them live in remote and remote mountainous areas. In order to prevent the harassment of thieves and the exclusion of local people, camp-style houses have been built in two forms: one is brick structure. 2. Special adobe structure: lime is mixed in the soil, glutinous rice and egg white are used as thickener, bamboo chips and wooden strips are used as bones and muscles, and rammed earth buildings with wall thickness 1 m and height 15 m or more are built. 3. Granite lath structure (such as Longguangwei in Longnan, Jiangxi). The common enclosure house covers an area of 8 mu, 10 mu, and the large enclosure house covers an area of more than 30 mu. It often takes five years, ten years or even longer to build a complete enclosure house. A dragon enclosure is a huge fortress of Hakkas. There are many bedrooms, kitchens, large and small halls and living facilities such as wells, pigsty, henhouse, toilet, warehouse, etc. in the house, forming a self-sufficient and enjoyable social small group.

Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Longyan, Fujian, Meizhou, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao are the main areas where Hakka people live together. Hakka Wai House, the traditional residence of Hakka people, is mainly distributed in eastern Guangdong, northern Guangdong, southern Jiangxi, Dongjiang River basin and Shenzhen and Hong Kong around the Pearl River Estuary. It is a precious historical and cultural heritage with rich connotations and colorful forms. Hakka enclosed houses in Guangdong and Hong Kong can be roughly divided into 15 types, among which the dragon enclosed houses, castle enclosed houses and quadrangular buildings have the most local characteristics.